CT manifestations of a ruptured hepatic tumor after transcatheter arterial embolization.

There are few reports of the radiologic diagnosis of ruptured hepatic tumors. In a patient with right upper abdominal pain and impending shock, angiography demonstrated a hypervascular hepatic tumor, and CT imaged an extrahepatic mass suggestive of a hematoma. Following transcatheter arterial embolization with Lipiodol Ultrafluide and gelatin-sponge, multiple contiguous CT sections revealed numerous lipiodol droplets adjacent to a lipiodol-containing hepatic tumor, clearly outside the liver. These findings were indicative of a ruptured hepatic tumor. After embolization, the patient's condition improved and he was discharged.